BGT ENGLISH LANGUAGE THEATRE

The Berliner Grundtheater e.V. (BGT) was founded in Berlin in 1991 and is dedicated to producing a wide range of English-language plays, while integrating players of different nationalities. In addition to playing many seasons in Berlin, the company has also performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and at Anglo-German Festivals in Germany, and is now based permanently in Luxembourg.

The BGT repertoire includes shows by authors as varied as Peter Shaffer, Anthony Minghella, Oscar Wilde and William Shakespeare. The company also produces original scripts, such as adaptations of JANE EYRE (2010), LITTLE WOMEN (2014) and A CHRISTMAS CAROL 016) and in January 2020 it premiered June Lowery's CHARLES DICKENS, THE BEST OF MEN; THE WORST OF MEN. The company is especially committed to promoting theatre for female actors and writers who are under-represented in the theatre and performance world. Shows like WOLVES ARE COMING FOR YOU (2019), PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (2018) DAVID'S REDHAIRED DEATH (2020) and THE ROAD TO HUNTSVILLE (2021), WE HAPPY FEW (2021) and most recently DI AND VIV AND ROSE (2022) all featured mostly - if not only - women actors as part of the company's policy to put women centre stage.

Combined with its policy of promoting plays by and about women, in recent years the company has also focused on promoting young performers and traineee or aspiring actors who are hoping to work in theatre. It is a co-sponsor of FEST (The FESTIVAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE SCHOOL THEATRE) which takes place every second year in Luxembourg (https://www.fest.lu/) and in 2019 started a summer programme giving trainee actors a contract to work on a show.

COMING IN APRIL 2023

I CAN'T TELL YOU ... BUT YOU FEEL IT

A new play, based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson

by Eloïse Heger-Hedløy

Theater Salle, LMRL (Lycée Michel Rodange) 30, Bd. Pierre Dupong, L1430 Luxembourg,

Thursday 27th & Friday 28th and Saturday 29th April at 19.30

Tickets € 20.00 (students €10.00) Reservations bgt.lu.tickets@gmail.com

EMILY DICKINSON (1830 - 1886) is one of the most influential poets of the modern age - but in her lifetime her name was unknown and her poetry largely unpublished. Only after her death, when her sister found and published bundles of her poems, was she recognised as a unique, innovative and powerful poet. After her death, the essayist and liberal reformer Thomas Wentworth Higginson (to whom she had sent some of her poems in 1862) wrote: "The impression of a wholly new and original poetic genius was as distinct on my mind at the first readings ... as it is now ". He judged her poetry "remarkable" but "too delicate" to publish. So, for her lifetime she remained an unacknowledged, single woman in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Inspired by Emily's life and the nearly 1,800 poems she wrote, 18-year-old Eloïse Heger-Hedløy explores the question of what makes a poet? Where does poetry come from? Does the poet chase it, or does it just emerge fully-formed in the mind. Scenes of her mundane, if chaotic, home life contrast with the creative, imaginary world she inhabits in the safety of her room as her poems take shape.

However, lurking in the darkness is the tempting, but somehow terrifying promise of “fame”. The lure of achieving celebrity begins to, literally, haunt her. The question of why she writes starts to threaten her peace of mind and even her grip on reality. In the strict social atmosphere of 19th century New England, a woman's place was the home. What chance could there be for a ground-breaking woman poet to be heard? But what is the value of a poem if it is unread? What is the point of being a poet if you're not known? Who is the poet writing for? Moving from scenes of comedy to moments of dark threat, the play looks at Emily's (and perhaps every poet's) struggle with these questions.

The BGT Theatre Company is delighted to have the opportunity to present this new and experimental piece of work by a young and promising writer and actress. Helping to develop the text through a series of workshops during the summer of 2022, this is the latest BGT play to put WOMEN CENTRE STAGE and to encourage young, new talent.

with

Kim Birel, Bjørn Clasen, Maya Fish, Eloïse Heger-Hedløy, Kalina Koeva

June Lowery, Ana Maia, & Lindsay Wegleitner

Lighting: Amplitude.lu Directed by Tony Kingston

Special thanks to Jean-Claude Hemmer and the staff of the Lycée Michel Rodange, Luxembourg for making this show possible.

Cast and Crew information